Press release

Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s sycophants at the House of Representatives are having a field day in their fascist and anti-people schemes in the past days.

The Lower House’s move to allocate a meager PhP1,000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights is an attempt to clip the functions of a constitutional body mandated to check on the human rights violations of State actors. While Karapatan has consistently criticized the CHR for its partiality to and complicity with State security forces on the numerous cases of extrajudicial killings, harassment and forced evacuation of communities of indigenous peoples, peasants and activists and its turning a blind eye on the plight of political prisoners, especially during the terms of officials appointed by former Pres. Benigno Aquino III, we view the recent attempts of the Duterte administration to de facto abolish the CHR as a dangerous step that undermines available mechanisms for redress for human rights violations in this so-called democratic form of government.

“President Duterte’s continuing glorification of dictator Marcos and his threats of declaring martial law nationwide, ala-Marcos, are all ways of a tyrannical regime, amid the relentless extrajudicial killings in line with the war on drugs, counter-insurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan and Mindanao martial rule,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, as the human rights alliance joined the September 11, 2017 protest action led by the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang(CARMMA) and the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto(SELDA) at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Marcos Aggalao, a 74-year-old political prisoner in Cordillera, died on the evening of September 12, 2017, while on hospital arrest. Aggalao was arrested on September 10, 2016 by combined elements of the police and the military in Gawaan, Balbalan, Kalinga. He was already suffering from pneumonia, dementia and hypertension during the time of his arrest. The 74-year-old suffered a stroke while in detention on July 2017 which paralyzed half of his body. Through the efforts of his lawyers, family, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Negotiating Panel, he was placed under hospital arrest.

"Due process is a mere abstract concept in the Philippines, grandstanded by crying cops, fabricated police reports and blatant lies. The human rights situation in the country has been on the decline, with the inception of the drug war campaign and the continuation of Duterte's counterinsurgency program. This rotting, brutish and fascist leadership is taking a toll on the Filipino youth as they, both in urban and rural areas, are being murdered by State instruments," said Karapatan deputy secretary general Jigs Clamor during a protest action at the Department of National Defense (DND) on August 7, 2017.

Karapatan slammed the Duterte administration over Rafael Mariano’s rejection as secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

"Today, the Duterte administration, through the Commission on Appointments, has reaffirmed its allegiances - that it is on the side of big landlords, oligarchs and warmongers in the country, with the rejection of Sec. Mariano's appointment as Agrarian Reform Secretary. Clearly, this move is to stop all efforts to further genuine agrarian reform, a cause and program advocated by Mariano and the peasant movement. This is also prodded by warmongers among the military, who act as mercenaries of the landed elite and oligarchs,” Karapatan deputy secretary general Jigs Clamor said.

"Indeed,
human rights defenders already have one foot in the grave, and the prevailing
conditions and policies set by the Duterte administration is making it more
dangerous for activists to continue their work. In a span of three days,
Karapatan received reports of incidents of extrajudicial killings involving
three peasant advocates and local leaders. State fascism is directly and
unapologetically trampling on the lives of those who have dedicated their lives
in service of the marginalized," said Karapatan secretary general Cristina
Palabay.

"This fascist drug war campaign is not only exposing the
police force as among the greatest organized criminal syndicate in this
country, but also as expert fabricators and fake news peddlers. Police reports
and the planting of evidence have become an exercise of imagination for
policemen trying to justify how they murdered fellow Filipinos," said
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.

On August 18, 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz was found dead in
Caloocan City, ten days after he went missing from his home in Cainta, Rizal.
Caloocan police alleged that Arnaiz hailed a cab in Navotas and tried to rob
its driver as they reached Caloocan. The said driver chanced upon police
personnel and sought help. The police allegedly fired shots against Arnaiz when
he open fired against the policemen. The police report also claimed that packs
of marijuana and shabu were recovered from the teenager’s possession.

Two years ago
today, on September 1, 2015, the Magahat paramilitary group under the 36th Infantry
Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA),massacred Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and
Aurelio Sinzo, andEmerito Samarca, the executive director of Lumad school
Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development
(ALCADEV), in Lianga, Surigao del Sur. The
incident triggered theforcible evacuation of communities in
Lianga. They were only able to return to their community a year later, on
September 2016, only to evacuate again this July 2017 because of ongoing
militarization and threats of aerial bombings.

“The Marcoses
have become legends among thieves
and they usedpublic funds for their political and
personal gains. All their ill-gotten
wealth should be returned to the people. We should be
vigilant against any compromise agreement of the Duterte
administration with the Marcoses that enables their getting a free
pass for all their crimes and their continuing political rehabilitation. This
will only perpetuate the injustices they committed against the Filipino
people,” said Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Roneo Clamor,
on statements of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and Justice
Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre that the Marcoses will return some
of their ill-gotten wealth and that a compromise agreement is being
arranged.

‘In a last-ditch effort to
save face and justify the killing of Kian Delos Santos, Northern Police
District (NPD) Chief Supt. Roberto Fajardo had to search through his old box of
lies. Fajardo’s expertise in fabricating testimonies and planting evidences has
been tried and tested. When he was the PNP-CIDG-NCR Director, he was involved
in the illegal arrest and detention of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, and the
planting of evidences to warrant the filing of trumped-up charges of illegal
possession of firearms and explosives against them,’ said Karapatan secretary
general Cristina Palabay.